[Archived] Williams & Co

[Hughesy]

The General info from the Q&A in the LT for people who cant get the paper!

1. Several bids were made for strikers but failed due to high prices and palyers being withdrawn from the market (admits bids were made for prem striker, bulgaria & sweden but valuations didnt match on the last 2)
   
2. Sam Allardyce did attract real interest from the Far East but they never made a move for him
   
3. Suprise, Suprise - to move forward we need investment - basically cant give any info due to the NDA.
   
4. Resisted Real interest for a number of players for some key senior players
   
5. Wage bill is down from 90% to 82% (at End June) and expected to lower further now to 79%.
   
6. Asked where we have budgetted for - he just says if we dont get too many injuries then they will look for a top half finish (So perhaps 10th?)
   
7. If no takeover - sitting on a small balance for January, and will try to help the manager where they can. However also warns of constant demands to maintain the club at Ewood & Brockhall such as Undersoil heating and UV lighting rigs to name two.
   

[bellamy11]

The General info from the Q&A in the LT for people who cant get the paper!

1. Wage bill is down from 90% to 82% (at End June) and expected to lower further now to 79%.
   

This is the key one for me. We've been so hamstrung in the market due to all our revenue being spent on the wages of existing players. Moving towards a more sustainable percentage (pre-takeover, obviously) is a very wise move.

[47er]

1667 posts in 2yrs 47er?, people in glass house and all that

I'll get yer coat

That's just over 2 posts a day Gav. Very moderate! Your average is close to 1.5 a day. Not a great deal of difference? 6 posts from you on last page! Get a life!

PS---please stop telling everyone else what they should say and what they shouldn't.

[Hughesy]

This is the key one for me. We've been so hamstrung in the market due to all our revenue being spent on the wages of existing players. Moving towards a more sustainable percentage (pre-takeover, obviously) is a very wise move.

True....also in summer we will have a number of players (Ageing or not needed) out of contract which should help us in our bid to freshen the side up - Salgado, Brown, Benjani, Chimbonda, Roberts aswell as possible contributions to Zurabs wage.

[mhead]

John Williams has proved his management skills over 10 to 15 years with the Club! Great appointment by Uncle Jack.

Can anyone on this Board prove the same or mention a Premier league Club with no 'Zurabs' on their playing staff?

[Iceman]

so this is where the Benni money has gone to

If no takeover - sitting on a small balance for January, and will try to help the manager where they can. However also warns of constant demands to maintain the club at Ewood & Brockhall such as Undersoil heating and UV lighting rigs to name two.

[Gav]

That's just over 2 posts a day Gav. Very moderate! Your average is close to 1.5 a day. Not a great deal of difference? 6 posts from you on last page! Get a life!

PS---please stop telling everyone else what they should say and what they shouldn't.

For you to even work that out is just sad 47er

I said on the last page you need to get out more, you’ve now confirmed that!

Lets just say I've won and get back on topic

[47er]

For you to even work that out is just sad 47er

I said on the last page you need to get out more, you’ve now confirmed that!

Lets just say I've won and get back on topic

Easy Maths for me Gav. Lets just agree you're a hypocrite and call it a day!

[trueblue]

Bolton Wanderers are advertising hospitality packages for their up-coming home game with Man Ure on Ticketmaster.. do we do anything like that? might be an idea to try for the 'Top' teams visits to Ewood

[Tom]

Surely we havnt budgeted for tenth? We only got there last season with a large slice of luck at the end. Plus we have stayed still whilst others around have moved on.

I'm not saying it's impossible but budgeting for it seems over zealous

Maybe it's just a prepared excuse for where the money is next summer if we aren't taken over.

[Balwer]

Budgeting for tenth would be realistic if every other club in the league had spent as much as we just did...

[unluckymorton]

Surely we havnt budgeted for tenth? We only got there last season with a large slice of luck at the end. Plus we have stayed still whilst others around have moved on.

I'm not saying it's impossible but budgeting for it seems over zealous

Maybe it's just a prepared excuse for where the money is next summer if we aren't taken over.

How dare Rovers aim for a top half finish indeed.

[LeChuck]

How dare Rovers aim for a top half finish indeed.

Aiming for and budgeting for are very different things!

[rebelmswar]

Aiming for and budgeting for are very different things!

Very true, actually budgeting for 10th would have been very risky.

[Mattyblue]

How did we have a 'large slice of luck' to finish 10th?

We got there fair and square after 38 games, if we hadn't have conceded so many away goals it could have been 9th.

[G Somerset Rover]

We'll do VERY well to finish 10th this season. Teams around us have improved their squads whilst ours is more or less the same.

Hopefully with some investment in January - takeover pending - 10th would become realistic, but right now I cannot see it.

[Tom]

How did we have a 'large slice of luck' to finish 10th?

We got there fair and square after 38 games, if we hadn't have conceded so many away goals it could have been 9th.

A large slice of luck maybe an exaggeration but we played villa and arsenal at the perfect time and an own goal late in the villa game got us to tenth I thought.

Not trying to be critical but I thought tenth flattered us last season.

And as someone else said we should be aiming for top ten but budgetting for it leave little margin for error and could be costly come next summer.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Aiming for tenth is fine its where we finished last season so that should be the aim this season, 10th or higher.

That being said I think we may struggle to get a top 10 finish this season. Teams like Brum and Stoke have on paper signed some decent players, if those players click and perform we may find it more difficult this season. Last season we were lucky on the injury front, will this be the same this season? Dunny who had a decent season last year has looked like the crocked Dunny of old, how will we cope without his creativity?

[LeChuck]

A large slice of luck maybe an exaggeration but we played villa and arsenal at the perfect time and an own goal late in the villa game got us to tenth I thought.

But if you go further back in the season you'll find a game where a late goal/dodgy refereeing cost us points. Usually we get more of these going against us than for us.

We finished tenth entirely on merit, our form in the second half of the season was brilliant.

[tonygreenbank]

Further good news for Mr williams and the club in general is provided today in the Times with the publication of the first Financial Fair Play Index.With Uefa very keen next season on fairness in how clubs spend in relation to their income the Times has decided this season to publish a league table each month showing how well a club is doing in relation to its spending, wages and points earned. Bolton are top of the first table with Rovers in 12th but in a review of how last season`s table would have looked Rovers were second in the table just behind Everton.With Big Sam getting praise from Mr Barclay!

The article is here http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/premierleague/article2712224.ece

[brian_gallagher85]

You can't read it unless you subscribe.

[John]

There seems to be a strange assumption that every player should be paid their apparent market value, in regards to the wages they receive. Every club has players who are probably getting paid far too much, that is the world we live in.

[budha]

You can't read it unless you subscribe.

A new study has hailed Everton as the real champions of the Premier League in the 2009/10 season!

That is the finding of a university study which has put together a Financial Fair Play league.

The research, carried out by Dr Sue Bridgwewater from the University of Warwick, balances teams' performance over the 2009/10 season against their financial circumstances.

It was based on a formula which takes into account wages and transfer expenditure in relation to points gathered, with the Blues coming out top of the league.

The research was suggested by The Times, with their chief football correspondent Patrick Barclay writing: "The findings are very much in line with the view of managers of how Barlcays Premier League clubs are run.

1 Everton

2 Blackburn Rovers

3 Arsenal

4 Tottenham Hotspur

5 Fulham

6 Manchester United

7 Bolton Wanderers

8 Birmingham City

9 Chelsea

10 Burnley

11 Aston Villa

12 Stoke City

13 Wolves

14 Wigan Athletic

15 Sunderland

16 Hull City

17 Portsmouth

18 Liverpool

19 West Ham United

20 Manchester City

A new study has hailed Everton as the real champions of the Premier League in the 2009/10 season!

(not the full article, just a summary)

[joey_big_nose]

We'll do VERY well to finish 10th this season. Teams around us have improved their squads whilst ours is more or less the same.

Hopefully with some investment in January - takeover pending - 10th would become realistic, but right now I cannot see it.

While signing wise we have been poor it still looks like Mame is a better bet than Di Santo - 4 goals already is a very good return.

Only significant loss is McCarthy who we actually had a better season without after Jan last year. Otherwise we have a lot of unknowns to say whether we are better or not than 2009/2010. Benjani impact is up in the air, development of the young players (Kalinic, Jones, N'Zonzi, Olsson, Hoilett, Linganzi) needs to be seen - this is absolutely crucial for us, and broadly speaking they have not looked too great yet. Dunn and Grella's fitness is also a big question.

So we could end up being broadly the same or improve significantly depending on those player's performance, particularly the young ones. We are in a risky position because so much is freighted on the unknown.

That said our showings have so far been good, and we have had an unexpected boost in Pedersen and EHD showing a level of performance far above what we expected. Can they maintain it?

Broadly speaking happier about our playing staff at the moment than the start of the last two seasons as we have a lot of exciting young players who can hopefully improve and our key experienced ones - Ped, EHD, Samba, Nelsen, Givet, Robinson, Salgado - are performing well. We need to finish our chances though which is the massive worry. If we had one top striker things would be looking rosy.

So not all doom and gloom.

[rebelmswar]

The problem with this site is far too many people have no middle ground, its either love or hate.

The Ince appointment was a disaster, but not just down to JW it was the boards decision, and I have no problem whatsoever with him paying Zurab and Roberts 30k a week, its was needed at the time to back the manager.

John Williams does walk on water for me, he’s done a tremendous job at the football club and long may it continue.

Well I hope that you see that you seem to have no middle ground either in this discussion Gav, you seem to be very much subscribing to black or white. I think that I am in a kind of grey area with this. I respect Mr. Williams and appreciate his sterling work for us but, I see that he has made errors.

Ince was beyond a disaster and whilst he may not take ALL of the blame for it – a pretty portion should be sent his way. Zurab could have been kept for less I am sure and if not then he should have been allowed to leave instead of us acting like social services whilst he plies his trade at another club. There are plenty more average central defenders out there that would jump at the chance.

I am glad that you hold him in such high regard, I really do, and it says much about how good a job he does normally. Even the divine errs sometimes though, just ask Judas.